Hussein "Kent" Al-Jamil

From AJS.COM

Kent in his lab coat (typical dress while working). Abyss is pictured in background.

Kent is my character in a Mage: The Awakening game. His true name is Hussein Al-Jamil and his shadow name is Taphonomy.

Overview

A Silver Ladder member, and walker of the path of Stygia (Moros), Hussein "Kent" Al-Jamil is of middle-eastern descent (Jordanian, to be precise). He speaks several languages, but being a native New Yorker, he occasionally slips into a Manhattan accent.

Kent is a forensic detective by profession, though since a widely publicized case in the late '90s, he has been able to semi-retire as an expert witness and consultant to various police organizations. Since 9/11 he has been subject to some discrimination, but he tends to travel in educated circles where this is not as much of an issue.

As a Mage, Kent is a necromancer, fascinated by the process of death and the natural transformation of living creatures into inanimate matter. He sees the cycle of life and death as a unity, and speculates that Life and Spirit are not true Arcana, but rather aspects of this cycle.

He was the apprentice of a Mage whose duty for the Scribes is to catalog manners of death, both mundane and supernatural. As such, his mundane and Magely work dovetail into a single information-gathering role.

Personality-wise, Kent is often believed to be distant and a bit aloof. His fascination with death leads him to consider those he encounters in terms of his vocation, and this is not the way to start conversation, to say the least. While he is heterosexual, speculation about his sexuality is a frequent result of his stand-offishness.

He is estranged from his family, who are Muslim, and do not accept his professed lack of faith. This estrangement comes in waves, however, and it is neither routine nor rare for him to return to them on important family occasions.

Mechanics

Here's the basics:

Speed: 8  |  Health: 9(8 1b)  |  Gnosis: 2  |  Mana: 7(4)  |  Willpower: 7-3

Primary Attributes: Mental
Intelligence: 3
Wits: 3
Resolve: 2
Secondary Attributes: Physical
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 2
Stamina: 4
Tertiary Attributes: Social
Presence: 1
Manipulation: 1
Composure: 4 + 1 (Moros) = 5

Skills:
Primary Skills: Mental
 Academics: 1
 Computer: 1
 Investigation (forensics): 3
 Medicine (autopsy): 3
 Occult: 2
 Science (chemistry): 3
Secondary Skills: Physical
 Firearms: 3
 Survival: 2
 Weaponry: 2
Tertiary Skills: Social
 Intimidation: 2
 Streetwise: 2

Arcana:
Death: 4
Matter: 2
Spirit: 1
Prime: 1

Rotes:
Forensic Gaze (Int+Medicine+Death): 1
Speak With the Dead (Wits+Occult+Death): 1
Unseen Aegis (Int+Science+Matter): 2
Discern Composition (Wits+Science+Matter): 1
Craftsman's Eye (Int+Investigation/Science+Matter): 1
Dispel Magic (Int+Occult+Prime+Target)

Contacts: 2 (NYPD, NY Bar Assn.)
Status: 1 (NYPD)
Encyclopedic knowledge (Death): 3
Resources: 1

Familiar: 4

       Abyss, an Abyssinian cat with typical short, brown fur for the
       breed, and a penchant for finding just the right light in which
       to pose for Mages and others gifted enough to notice him in the
       first place.

Name: Abyss
Rank: 1
Type: Embodied Familiar (Abyssinian cat, brown, short fur, tall and
slender)
Attributes: I: 3 W: 3 R: 2 / S: 1 D: 4 S: 1 / P: 3 M: 2 C: 2
Skills:
Animal Ken: 4, Empathy: 3, Intimidation: 2
Athletics: 2, Stealth: 2, Survival: 2
Investigation: 3
Willpower: 4
Essence: 10/10
Initiative: 6
Defense: 4
Speed: 12
Size: 2
Health: 3
Influence: 2 (Cats)
Numinas: Innocuous, Aura (Spell as Numina, Mind 1 p. 205,
Wits(3)+Empathy(3), tends to sense auras as smells, "this one's week old
tuna, boss.")
Ban: Flowing water

Arcanum tools

Dedicated magical tool:

Enhanced item: "Bread knife"
  Incresed durability: +2
  Increased Equipment bonus: +2

Death: Cloth tape measure
Matter: Magnifying glass
Spirit: White sheet
Prime: Tuning fork

Inventory

• Medical bag with typical tools of examination of crime scenes
• Sap with the gift of healing sleep from the Autumn Queen's realm

Experience

Virtue and vice

Prudence: Kent has been very disciplined about turning down the wrong sorts of offers, from the time that he was asked to sign off on a murdered thug as a suicide to the case he passed up in which a celebrity who was also a Mage wished for him to testify that there was no way for him to have committed a particular murder, which it was clear that he had committed via vulgar Magick.

Gluttony: Kent is a death junkie to some extent. He will often seek out those who are dying or recently dead. He's been known to make visits to morgues just to "see what's new", and while this is a professional interest to some extent, he has been known to indulge his interest to the detriment of his social attachments. This also fueled his Awakening (see below).

Background

Origin story

Kent was just out of college when he awakened. He'd studied in medical school to be a doctor, but death fascinated him, and so he ended up gravitating toward forensic medicine. During his internship with a Brooklyn hospital, he encountered a murder which seemed particularly sadistic, but on closer examination of the body, he began to suspect that it had been savaged to cover up several bite wounds.

Eager to prove himself, he attempted to follow up on the case himself, and eventually tracked down a woman named Deloris who had been seen leaving a bar with the victim several nights before his death. Kent immediately recognized that there was something unusual about the woman, and he found himself taking her into his confidence. For his part, he had no idea that Deloris was a Vampire and was actively manipulating his emotions. For her part, she had no idea that Kent was a budding Mage, and when her liaison with him grew tiring, she intended to kill him. One day, he decided to surprise her, and visited earlier than expected. At first, he was shocked to find her in bed with another man, and then came the second shock: the man was dying. Rooted to the spot by his horror and fascination, he watched her drink the life from this stranger, and even more shockingly, watched as the man's life force drained into her... he could actually see the life energy of the dead man depart.

Breaking free of his stupor and the mental shackles which he had not realized he bore, he fled the scene. Deloris let him go, sensing his Awakening as a supernatural event of some sort (she can sense auras; see Deloris's story, below), but not quite sure if it should be interpreted as a threat. Later that day, disoriented and confused, Kent returned to watch her from afar. He tracked her movements for the next several days, and watched her kill again. It was like a narcotic to him when he watched the life force of her victim leave. In the end, he forced himself to confront her. They spoke cautiously, and as Deloris realized that he had Awoken as a Mage, she saw the opportunity for a deal. Certain that she could kill him, but no longer certain that it would be wise, she was more than willing to offer information.

She offered him a contact within the Silver Ladder in exchange for his silence. He accepted, and was introduced to his mentor in this way, but ever since the memory of that deal has haunted him, and acts as a focus in his efforts to resist offers which are too good to be true.

Kent has not seen Deloris since, and is quite comfortable with that state of affairs. He would rather not have to confront his feelings for her, which are mixed to say the least.

Deloris's story

Deloris Landing (and yes, she hates The West Wing, and if Aaron Sorkin—a Vampire, as it turns out—thinks he's going to get away with naming a character after her, he has another think coming) has been able to read auras for some time. When she first met Hamilton Bray, she assumed that he was a Vampire. Over the years, he showed a curiosity in her methods that was unusual, but she thought nothing of it.

Then, one night she spotted him following her after a rather satisfying kill. She dodged down an alley, but he lingered over the corpse of the homeless man she had just fed on. Intrigued, she watched from a rooftop, as he studied the body and bite marks. He seemed to concentrate for quite a while, with his hands on the neck wound. When he was done, he stood up, and searched his pockets, becoming a bit frustrated. After completing his apparently fruitless search, he sighed, looked around and then waved his hands. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a pen and paper that Deloris was certain had not been there a second ago. A strange gift for a Vampire, thought she....

The next day, after some thought, Deloris decided to confront Hamilton. He admitted to following her, and also that he had simply been willing to let her assume that he was a Vampire. He was, in fact, some sort of wizard, but would not divulge details other than to say that there WERE others like him, and he would prefer that she not share this information. He claimed to have no intention of telling anyone else about her activities as long as she did not cause too much trouble. He was simply cataloging the cause of death for some sort of project of his. Hamilton and Deloris did not speak for some years after the incident.

When a lover (and expected victim) of hers was able to throw off her control and his aura changed from the typical pale yellow of humanity to a brighter blue, she suspected that his condition might be related to Hamilton's. She introduced the boy to Hamilton, and left it at that.

Hamilton Bray is therefore Kent's mentor, and superior in the task of cataloging methods of death (a task which suits Kent so well that the two of them suspect that there is more than simple coincidence in their meeting).

Hamilton and the Mystic Forensics Archive

The Mystic Forensics Archive is a task set by the Silver Ladder for themselves. It is an effort to catalog the means of death of anyone who either is a mage or dies as a result of magic. By its very nature, it is incomplete, but Hamilton has made great strides in improving it. With Taphonomy helping by bringing in information from his police sources, this has become even easier, and the whole process is now much smoother.

It is rare that they do any more than use either Hamilton's or Taphonomy's Forensic Gaze rote to determine the cause of death, but in rare circumstances where the means of death is difficult to determine, Hamilton has been petitioned the Ladder for the right to perform an actual autopsy on a mage. When the mage is of another order, this can prove politically sensitive, but permission has almost always been given.

With his voracious appetite for knowledge of death, Taphonomy has been able to learn a great deal about how mages come to their end and what magical threats are active. This has served him well in the past, though recent events haven't allowed him to apply this knowledge.

Research between sessions

Met a sentinal named Gato Negro while investigating Guenivere and Demosthenese. He mentioned that he's from Columbia and that he's a potter. We chased down leads that proved to be fruitless. But we learn that some authority made it the top prio to find demosthenese, and he will not be dealt with "nicely". I also meet one other sentinel who (at an east side peir) is named Otter. Gato goes to him. Otter tells us that both demonsthenese and guen are probably prisoners of or guests of a vampire faction.

Job fair

The scribes have some openings, and many of us filled them:

• Far Seeker - Raman Tep
• Door Warden - Taphonomy
• Hearth Master - Sotapana
• Lore Keeper - Nibii
• Edge Tender - Nereru

Corretta's death

Taphonomy heard about a helicopter crash on the TV, and then someone told him (via Queen Bee) that Coretta was killed in the crash (almost certainly arranged by Azure). Taphonomy headed there as quickly as possible and found out that the "bodies" (plural?) had been taken to Saiani Hospital. He's currently wandering around the scene and attempting to talk to any shades in the area, especially if Coretta is here. This is a bit odd looking, but any police that know him in the area will recognize his slightly eccentric style.